News Releases

EPA provides Missoula $850,000 to advance revitalization efforts

(Denver, Colo. – July 29, 2010) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing the City of Missoula with $850,000 in supplemental funding for cleanup efforts at contaminated sites known as brownfields. Missoula is one of 27 state or local governments chosen to receive these funds, which will help carry out cleanup activities, redevelopment projects, and create jobs for people living near brownfields sites. Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

“The City of Missoula continues to leverage impressive economic and environmental results with EPA Brownfields resources,” said Ted Lanzano, of EPA’s Brownfields program in Denver. “In addition to progress being made at the Sawmill site, the City has targeted several other properties as candidates for cleanup and revitalization. These additional funds will contribute to the creation of assets that will help keep Missoula vibrant for years to come.”

EPA is providing $850,000 to recapitalize the City of Missoula’s Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). Missoula has made several RLF loans since 2006, including more than $1.5 million in loans towards the cleanup and redevelopment of the Sawmill site. The City has also provided grants to the North Missoula Community Development Corporation for asbestos abatement at the Burns Street Community Nutrition Center.

The City of Missoula has identified several candidate sites for future brownfields investments and is accepting community proposals for projects. The cleanup of brownfields properties supports several goals, including the redevelopment of Missoula’s urban core, enhancing public transportation, the development of affordable housing, and the protection of groundwater resources.

EPA’s Brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since the beginning of the program, revolving loan fund grants recipients have executed 172 loans and awarded 57 subgrants to support brownfields cleanup totaling more than $96 million. The loan funds have facilitated more than $2.5 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and enabled the support of 6,493 jobs in cleanup, construction and redevelopment.